intel® rapid storage technology enterprise nvme* · pdf fileintel® rapid storage...

Order Number: 334080-001US

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise

(Intel® RSTe) NVMe*

Technical Product Specification (TPS) Document

September 2016

Revision 1.2


Technical Product Specification March 2016

2 334080-001US

Revision History

Revision Description Date

001 Initial release. March 2016

1.2 Add support for Windows* Server 2016 September 2016

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Copyright © 2016 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. 0316/JL/JT


March 2016 Technical Product Specification

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Contents

Revision History ............................................................................................................................................................................ 2

1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Intended Use .............................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Intended Audience .................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.3 Terminology ................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

2 Product Overview ......................................................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Intel RSTe NVME Product Major Components ........................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Unsupported Features ........................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.3 Operating Systems Supported........................................................................................................................................... 9 2.4 Intel RSTe NVMe Configuration Tools ......................................................................................................................... 10 2.5 Intel RSTe System Configurations supported.......................................................................................................... 10 2.6 Software RAID Functional Support ............................................................................................................................... 11 2.7 Utilities ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 18

3 Product Certifications ................................................................................................................................................ 19

3.1 WHQL .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................................................... 20

Relevant Specifications ......................................................................................................................................................................... 20

Appendix B ................................................................................................................................................................................... 21

Storage System Events Detected by Monitor Service (IAStorDataMgrSvc). ................................................................. 21



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1 Introduction

The purpose of this document is to present the Intel® RSTe NVMe* functional requirements (or features)

that make up this product. The features addressed include those for the Intel RSTe NVMe Windows*-

based drivers, tools and Graphical User Interface (GUI).

The Intel RSTe NVMe product package provides support for RAID management on supported platforms

with Intel NVMe SSD plugged into PCI express slots controlled/managed by the CPU.

1.1 Intended Use

This document is intended to provide high level information on the technical features of the Intel RSTe

NVMe product package that support creating/managing data RAID volumes on Intel NVMe SSDs.

1.2 Intended Audience

The intended audience of this document is Intel NVMe users requiring detailed information of the features

and technical specifications of the Intel RSTe NVMe product.

1.3 Terminology

Term Description

AHCI Advanced Host Controller Interface

ATA Advanced Technology Attachment

ATAPI Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface

BIOS Basic Input / Output System

BBE Boot Behind Expander

Chipset A term used to define a collection of PNHCI components required to make a PC function.

CIM Common Information Model

CLI Command Line Interface

Cougar Point Platform Controller Hub

CSMI Common Storage Management Interface

DMA Direct Memory Access

DOS Disk Operating System

DIPM Device Initiated Power Management

DSJ Dirty Stripe Journaling



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Term Description

Disk’s Write

Cache

A memory device within a hard drive, which is allocated for the temporary storage of

data before that data is copied to its permanent storage location.

EBDA Extended BIOS Data Area

EN Entry Server

EP Efficient Performance

GB Giga-byte

GUI Graphical User Interface

HDD Hard Disk Drive

HIPM Host Initiated Power Management

HII Human Interface Infrastructure

Hot Plug A term used to describe the removal or insertion of a SATA hard drive when the system

is powered on.

ICH Input / Output Controller Hub

IHV Independent Hardware Vendor

LPM Link Power Management

MB Mega-bytes

NAI Notification Area Icon

NCQ Native Command Queuing

NTFS NT File System

NVMe PCI Express Non Volatile Memory

ODD Optical Disk Devices

ODM Original Design Manufacturer

OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer

OROM Option ROM

OS Operating System

PCH Platform Control Hub

Pre-OS Pre Operating System Environment (Legacy OROM and/or UEFI)

Port The point at which a SATA drive physically connects to the SATA controller.

PPL Partial Parity Logging



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Term Description

PRD Product Requirements Document

RHEL Redhat Enterprise Linux

RRT Rapid Recover Technology

RST Rapid Storage Technology

RSTe Rapid Storage Technology enterprise

SAS Serial Attached SCSI

SATA Serial ATA

sSATA Secondary Serial ATA

SCU Storage Controller Unit

SES SCSI Enclosure Service

SGPIO Serial General Purpose I/O

SMART

Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology: an open standard for developing

hard drives and software systems that automatically monitors a hard drive’s health and

reports potential problems.

SLES SUSE Linux Enterpise Server

SMIS Storage Management Initiative Specification

SSD Solid State Device – non volatile memory

UI User Interface

UEFI Unified Extensible Firmware Interface



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2 Product Overview

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (RSTe) NVMe is a set of products that provide RAID

support on supported enterprise environment with Intel NVMe SSDs. Some of the RAID features

include:

RAID level 0 (striping)

RAID level 1 (mirroring)

RAID level 5 (striping with parity)

RAID level 10 (striping and mirroring)

Features supported by the RSTe NVMe product include:

Intel NVMe SSD support

Creating/managing RAID Volume across multiple Intel® NVMe SSD Controllers

The Intel RSTe NVMe product with support the following platforms:

Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v3, v4 Families with the Intel® C610 Series Chipset

Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v5 Families with the Intel® C230 Series Chipset.

For these platforms, the Intel RSTe NVMe product will support only Intel NVMe SSDs directly

connected to the PCI express slots controlled by the CPU. Please consult you platform guides to

identify which PCI express slots are managed by the CPU.

Please review the entire document for the complete list of features in the Intel RSTe family of

products.

2.1 Intel RSTe NVME Product Major Components

Intel RSTe NVMe product package is comprised of several components that provide a complete

platform solution. The components are:

RSTe OS Runtime Drivers

RSTe Tools and Utilities

2.1.1 Intel RSTe NVMe OS Runtime Drivers

The Intel RSTe NVMe OS runtime NVMe drivers are based on the Intel NVMe device drivers, which is

Windows* Storport Miniport device driver. This provides for improved performance along with

simplified functional maintainability. There is a single Windows* runtime RSTe NVMe driver included

that installs for each NVMe device attached to the platform. Each instance of the driver installed is

reported to the Intel RSTe environment as a single drive.



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2.1.2 Intel RSTe NVMe OS Tools and Utilities

The Intel RSTe NVMe OS tools and utilities provided support for the installation of the Intel RSTe

NVMe product and the management of the RAID enabled environment.

2.1.2.1 Intel RSTe NVMe RAID Installation Tool

The Intel RSTe NVMe installation tool will support the installation of the Intel RSTe NVMe product

onto supported platforms. This includes the installation of:

1. The Intel RSTe NVMe device drivers

2. The Intel RSTe NVMe RAID management layer

3. The Intel RSTe NVMe Graphical User Interface (GUI), which is similar to the Intel RSTe

PCH/SATA GUI.

4. The Intel RSTe NVMe GUI will also incorporate with the Intel RSTe PCH/SATA GUI if already

present/installed on the platform

2.1.2.2 Intel RSTe NVMe Command Line Interface (CLI) Utility

The Intel RSTe NVMe package provides advanced uses a command line utility that can be run from a

command prompt or from a scripting environment. This application is designed to operate as a

standalone command tool or from within a scripting environment and runs in a Windows* command

prompt window. There are separate tools for each controller for the Intel® C610 and C230 series

chipsets.

2.2 Unsupported Features

The following is a non-comprehensive list of features that are not be supported in Intel® RSTe:

Web Browser RAID configuration utility

Hard Drive Password

Link Power Management (LPM)

Time Limited Error Recovery (TLER)

Booting from an NVMe RAID Volume

Third party NVMe SSD support

NVMe RAID Volumes on NVMe devices attached via the PCH PCI express slots

RSTe 4.5 supports up to 12 Intel NVMe SSDs

NOTE: Intel RSTe NVMe only supports NVMe devices connected to PCI express slots

controlled/managed by the CPU. If an NVMe device(s) is plugged into a PCI express slot(s)

controlled/managed by the PCH prior to the installation of the Intel RSTe NVMe product, the RSTe

GUI may report those devices. The Intel NVMe RSTe GUI does not prevent NVMe RAID volumes from

including PCH controlled NVMe SSDs. RAID volumes that include PCH controlled NVMe SSDs will

encounter a substantial performance degradation.



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The following table provides an overview of the advantages, the level of fault-tolerance provided, and

the typical usage of RAID 0.

Table 1: Feature Overview

Name Key Features

RAID

• Support for Matrix RAID 0/1/5/10

• Pass-through drives

• Hot Spare Disk

• Auto Rebuild on Hot Insert1

• Rebuild & Migration Check Pointing

• NCQ (SATA) and CQ (SAS) support

• SMART Support

• Bad Block Management

• Controller configuration rules

• Drive roaming

• RAID Volume roaming between Linux*

and Windows*

• On Line Capacity Expansion

• Large Stripe Size Support

• RAID-Ready

• Disk Coercion

• Manual & Auto Rebuild

• Instant Initialization

• Read Patrol

• Volume creation/verify

• Email Alerting

• RAID Level Migration (RAID 0,

1, or 10 to RAID 5)

• Dirty Stripe Journaling

• Partial Parity Logging (PPL)

• Verify and Repair

• NVMe Pass-Through

SCSI Pass-Through

Utilities • Install/Uninstall Utility

• Configuration and Management Utilities

Intel RSTe NVMe

• Intel RSTe NVMe provides software for high-performance Intel NVMe SSDs

• Matrix RAID for two RAID volumes on single array

• Improved user interface for enhanced usability

NOTE: 1Feature not supported with Intel RSTe NVMe.

2.3 Operating Systems Supported

2.3.1 Microsoft OS Support

Intel RSTe NVMe will support both 32 and 64 bit versions of the following Microsoft OSs:

Windows* 7

Windows* Server 2008 R2 (64 bit only)

Windows* Server 2012

Windows* 8.1

Windows* Server 2012 R2

Windows* 10

Windows* Server 2016



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2.4 Intel RSTe NVMe Configuration Tools

The Intel RSTe NVMe product will support two OS level configuration.

2.4.1 Intel RSTe NVMe Command Line Interface (CLI) Application

Intel ® RSTe NVMe product will provide support for a command line application that can run under a

Windows* command prompt and/or a Windows* PE environments. This application can be used to

perform basic RAID operations on the platforms that have or will have Intel RSTe installed. Intel RSTe

CLI provides basic support for creating and managing RAID arrays and volumes without a dependency

on the system OS being installed. (I.e. a factory environment that builds both Windows* and Linux*

systems)

2.4.2 Intel RSTe NVMe Graphical User Interface (GUI)

The Intel RSTe NVMe product will provide support for a graphical user interface for management of

RAID arrays and volumes on Intel NVMe SSDs directly connected via PCI express slots

controlled/managed by the CPU.

This feature will be supported on platforms that have installed Linux, Windows* 7 and Windows*

2008R2 (64 and 32 bit).

2.5 Intel RSTe System Configurations supported

This section addresses to physical components of the system configuration supported by the Intel

RSTe product package.

2.5.1 Intel® C610 series chipset

The Intel RSTe NVMe product will provide support for managing RAID volumes on Intel NVMe SSDs

attached to PCI express slots managed by the PCU of the Intel® C610 series chipset based platform.

2.5.2 Intel® C230 series chipset SATA Controller Support

The Intel RSTe NVMe product will provide support for managing RAID volumes on drives attached to

the SATA ports of the Intel® C230 series chipset.

2.5.3 Intel NVMe SSDs

The Intel RSTe NVMe product will provide support Intel NVMe SSDs directly connected to the CPU

managed PCI express slots.

2.5.4 Pass-through drives

Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to expose non-RAID configured Intel NVMe SSD (pass-

through) to Host OS.



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2.5.5 Drive roaming

Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to move and recognize RAID arrays and volumes between the

controllers of the Intel® C600/C610/C220 series chipsets. RAID Boot volumes may have limitations

based on the drivers loaded and the controller configurations.

2.5.6 NCQ

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support Native Command Queuing.

2.5.7 NVMe Status LEDs

The Intel RSTe NVMe product will provide support for NVMe Status LED management.

NOTE: This requires the OEM/ODMs platforms that provide support for this feature.

2.6 Software RAID Functional Support

This section will focus on RAID specific features unless the particular requirement specifies differently.

2.6.1 Matrix RAID

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support up to two logical RAID volumes on the same array. A RAID array

simply refers to the set of disk drives that can be formed into a RAID volume.

2.6.2 RAID 0/1/5/10 Volumes

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support base level RAID volumes on Intel NVMe SSDs attached to PCI

express slots managed by the CPU.

2.6.3 Simultaneous RAID Arrays

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for RAID volume management on Intel NVMe SSDs

separate from disks attached to the SATA/sSATA controllers. However, Intel RSTe will provide

support for simultaneous RAID management on both areas.

Disk Coercion

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for Disk Coercion. When a RAID volume is created, this

feature will analyze the physical disks and will automatically adjust (round down) the capacity of the

disk(s) to 95% of the smallest physical disk. This allows for the variances in the physical disk

capacities from different vendors.

2.6.4 Hot Spare Disk

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to set a drive as a hot spare that would automatically be

used to rebuild a failed or degraded RAID volume without any user interaction.



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2.6.5 Auto Rebuild on Hot Insert

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to initiate an automatic RAID rebuild when a physical disk

of the appropriate size is hot inserted into the same directly attached port that the failed drive was

removed from. When configured appropriately, if a RAID volume issue occurs (failure, degradation, or

SMART event) and the questionable drive is hot removed, when a drive of the appropriate size (new or

and from an off-line RAID volume) is hot inserted into that same port, the volume will be rebuilt on

the inserted drive.

NOTE: This feature is requires OEM/ODM platforms that support this feature.

2.6.6 Manually Invoked Rebuild

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide a manual method to initiate a RAID volume rebuild if a hot spare has

not been configured or is not available.

2.6.7 RAID SMART Support

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for SMART Alerts A SMART drive event response alert on

failure will initiate rebuild to hot spare disk.

2.6.8 RAID-Ready Mode

A RAID-Ready NVMe to a system that has been configured to support Intel RSTe NVMe.

2.6.9 RAID Volume Creation with Data Preservation

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to preserve the data from one of the disks used for the

volume creation. A non-RAID disk can be migrated to a RAID volume while retaining the existing data

on that disk.

Note: When creating a system boot volume (the Intel RSTe family of products only), the maximum

stripe size supported is 128K.

In a RAID-Ready configuration, the user can take their single system drive and turn it into a supported

RAID volume by using the Intel RSTe GUI application. All applications and data will remain intact.

The following are examples of RAID level creations that will be supported by Intel RSTe (depending

on the chipset being used):

• Individual pass-through to 2 - 8 drives for RAID 0 (Intel RSTe NVMe product)

• Individual pass-through to 2 drive RAID 1

• Individual pass-through to 4 drive RAID 10

• Individual pass-through to 3 to 6 drive RAID 5

2.6.10 Instant Initialization

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support a newly created volume to be used immediately (no reboot

required), protecting newly written data and creating parity data concurrently.



334080-001US 13

For a RAID 5 configuration that consists of 3 or 4 drives, the RAID volume will be shown as normal as

soon as the volume is created. Parity will be computed and written with every RAID 5 write activity.

For a RAID 5 configuration that consists of 5 or more drives, the parity initialization will begin as soon

as the volume is created. This is done to improve the operational performance of RAID 5 volumes.

2.6.11 RAID Level Migrations

The RAID level migration feature in the Intel RSTe NVMe will enable the ability to convert the contents

of a drive (Intel NVMe SSDs) into a RAID volume (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, or RAID 10). The RAID level

migration feature also supports the ability to migrate from a one RAID volume to another.

The size of the hard drives determines how much time is required to complete the migration but the

system will remain fully functional during the migration process. The only limitation is that some

disk-intensive tasks may have slower performance during a RAID migration.

NOTE: Single volume per array only. This is dependent on required capacity and implicit array

expansion.

NOTE: When using a GPT partition, make sure there is at least 5 Megabytes of disk space

available for RAID Metadata when the OS is being installed.

The following are some examples of RAID level migrations supported by Intel RSTe (depending on the

chipset being used):

• 2-drive RAID 1 to 3 - 32 drive RAID 5 (8 drives max for Intel RSTe NVMe product)

• 4-drive RAID 10 to 4 - 32 drive RAID 5 (8 drives max for Intel RSTe NVMe product)

NOTE: Additional information on RAID level migration can be found in the RSTe GUI help

2.6.12 RAID Reconfiguration (Stripe size)

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide the ability to change stripe size on existing volumes (migration

required). Intel RSTe will support a stripe size migration in conjunction with a RAID level migration.

Note: Migration supports stripe sizes for the respective RAID levels supported. Stripe Size Support for

(values are in Kilobytes):

• RAID 0 volumes – 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024

• RAID 10 volumes - 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024

• RAID 5 volumes - 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024

2.6.13 Expanded Stripe Size

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to expand the RAID volume stripe size for the following

RAID volumes (values are in Kilobytes):

• RAID 0 volumes – 256, 512, 1024

• RAID 10 volumes – 256, 512, 1024

• RAID 5 volumes – 256, 512, 1024



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2.6.14 Online Array / Volume Capacity Expansion

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide the ability to add new drives to an existing array and expand

existing volumes accordingly. This is supported only under RAID 0 and RAID 5.

2.6.15 Read Patrol

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for Read Patrol, which checks the RAID volumes for errors

that could result in a failure. The checks are done periodically in background and will verify all sectors

of all RAID volumes that are connected to the Intel NVMe SSDs. If an issue is discovered an attempt at

corrective action is taken. Read Patrol can be enabled or disabled manually.

The background process begins when there is no I/O to the RAID volume, though it can continue to

run while I/O’s are being processed.

2.6.16 Verify and Repair

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for Verify and Repair.

The RAID volume data verification process identifies any inconsistencies or bad data on a RAID 0,

RAID 1, RAID 5, or RAID 10 volume.

The RAID volume data verification and repair process identifies and repairs any inconsistencies or bad

data on a RAID 1, RAID 5, or RAID 10 volume.



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The following table describes what occurs for each RAID level:

Table 2: RAID Level Verify and Repair

RAID Level Verify Verify and Repair

RAID 0 Bad blocks are identified. N/A

RAID 1

Bad blocks are identified Bad blocks are reassigned.

Data on the mirror drive is

compared to data on the source

drive.

If the data on the mirror drive does not

match the data on the source drive, the

data on the mirror is overwritten with the

data on the source.

RAID 5

Bad blocks are identified. Bad blocks are reassigned.

Parity is recalculated and

compared to the stored parity for

that stripe.

If the newly calculated parity does not

match the stored parity, the stored parity

is overwritten with the newly calculated

parity.

RAID 10

Bad blocks are identified. Bad blocks are reassigned.

Data on the mirror is compared to

data on the source.

If the data on the mirror does not match

the data on the source, the data on the

mirror is overwritten with the data on the

source.

2.6.17 Check Pointing

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide the ability to perform Check Pointing to be able to track forward

progress on read patrol, array rebuilds and volume migration if interrupts occur. After resuming, the

operation will restart from the last valid stage reached.

2.6.18 Bad Block Management

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for Bad Block Management.

In the course of rebuilding a degraded RAID volume, where one of the member disks has failed or

been removed, and is being replaced by a ‘spare’ drive, the redundant contents of the other drive(s)

are read and then used to reconstruct data to be written to the spare drive. In case a read failure

occurs sometime during this rebuild process, the data to be written to the spare will not be available

and therefore lost. In this scenario, rather than mark the entire RAID volume as failed, we can mark

only those sectors on the spare that are known to have indeterminate data, in a log of such bad

sectors. This bad block management log can be used to reflect error status whenever any attempts

are made to access those sectors of the spare.

2.6.19 Dirty Stripe Journaling

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for Dirty Stripe Journaling (DSJ). DSJ is used to help speed

up RAID 5 write power loss recovery by storing the write stripes that were in progress at the time of



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the failure. The DSJ allows rapid recovery without having to rebuild the entire volume. The DSJ is

only utilized when disk write cache is DISABLED

2.6.20 Partial Parity Logging (PPL)

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for Partial Parity Logging (PPL). PPL is used to record the

results of XORing old data with old parity. PPL is currently saved as part of the RAID member

information and is only utilized when writing RAID 5 parity. It helps protect against data loss when a

power failure or a system crash occurs by allowing data to be rebuilt by utilizing the PPL information.

2.6.21 Auto Rebuild

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for the ability to automatically rebuild a failed or degraded

RAID volume. This feature will begin when a member disk of the array has failed and a suitable

replacement disk with sufficient capacity is available. As soon as the failure occurs the rebuild

process will begin automatically, using the marked Hot Spare disk, without user intervention.

If a marked Hot Spare disk is not present, the automatic rebuild process will begin under the following

conditions:

Another free disk is plugged into the same directly attached physical location as the failed

drive

The newly inserted disk size is at least as large as the amount of space used per disk in the

current array

The newly inserted disk must be the same type (Intel NVMe SSD) as the disk being replaced

or the rebuild will not start.

If the newly inserted disk contains Intel RSTe (or Intel® RST) metadata with current status of

member being offline or contains no Intel RSTe (or Intel® RST) metadata.

The newly inserted disk has not reported a SMART event.

The following table summarizes the functionality:

Controller Auto Rebuild Support Action

NVMe SSDs Connected to the

CPU

Auto rebuild conditions

described above are met.

Auto rebuild starts without

any user intervention

NVMe SSDs Connected to the

CPU

One or more of the above

conditions was not met.

No auto rebuild: Manual

steps required to rebuild

array using new disk

Automatic rebuild support will default to OFF for Intel RSTe and can be enabled through the Intel

RSTe GUI.



334080-001US 17

2.6.22 Error Threshold Monitoring/Handling

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to initiate an automatic RAID rebuild to a marked hot

spare drive in the event of a drive SMART event alert that indicates a failure. (Windows Only)

2.6.23 Disk Write Cache

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to enable/disable Disk Write Cache through the Intel

RSTe GUI. Disk Data Cache will be disabled by default.

2.6.24 RAID Volume Read Cache

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to enable/disable RAID Volume Read Cache through the

Intel RSTe GUI. RAID Volume Read Cache will be enabled by default.

2.6.25 Write Back Cache

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to enable/disable Write Back Cache through the Intel

RSTe GUI. Write Back Cache will be disabled by default.

2.6.26 Disk Monitor Service

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to provide a disk monitoring service. The service will be

active by default and executed as a system service. The service will monitor the system for SMART

and RAID volume state changes events. The changes will be logged in the system log.

2.6.27 Failed Drive Reinsertion

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability to recognize a failed drive re-inserted into the array. If

able, Intel RSTe will attempt to rebuild the volume to that drive. If not able, Intel RSTe will mark the

drive accordingly in the GUI.

2.6.28 Drives Supported

The Intel RSTe NVMe will provide support for current production Intel NVMe.

2.6.29 Device Configuration

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support the ability, at initialization, to read the system registry to get

configuration setting in order to set the appropriate operational parameters.

2.6.30 Power Management

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support all the necessary power management functions required by the

OSs.



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2.6.31 TRIM Command

Support for the TRIM command allows the OS to pass information to the Solid State Disk (SSD) that

identifies sectors that can be deleted. The SSD will then go through and clear out that information in

the background thereby minimizing the chances of an “Overwriting” process happening at crucial

times. The SSD is also free to do some additional optimizations with those sectors (e.g. an SSD can

pre-erase any sector that has been TRIM'ed). The TRIM command improves the long term Write

performance and the life-span of SSDs.

RAID 0/1/10

NOTE: This feature is not an end-user visible feature. There is no Intel RSTe application or user

interface control to configure the feature. Registry settings are provided for OEM use.

2.6.32 Email Alerting and Notification

The Intel RSTe NVMe will support email notification of certain storage events.

2.7 Utilities

2.7.1 Install/Uninstall Utility

The Intel RSTe NVMe will be available through the use of an install package. The install package will

automatically install the proper RSTe driver and GUI that corresponds to the OS being installed on.

There will also be a mechanism available to uninstall the driver and GUI.

NOTE: Great care must be taken when trying to perform the uninstall process. Removal of the driver

could result in a system crash that could require a complete reinstallation of the operating system.



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3 Product Certifications

3.1 WHQL

The Intel RSTe drivers are WHQL Certified for supported Operating Systems.



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Appendix A

Relevant Specifications

ATA/ATAPI-7

(http://www.t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments/project/d1532v3r4a-ATA-ATAPI-7.pdf)

ATA Command Set 2

(http://www.t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2009/d2015r2-

ATAATAPI_Command_Set_-_2_ACS-2.pdf)

ATA8-ACS-8

(http://www.t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2007/D1699r4c-ATA8-ACS.pdf)

SATA 1.0 Specification (http://www.serialata.org)

SATA II Specification (http://www.serialata.org)

SATA 3 (http://www.sata-io.org/documents/SATA-Revision-3.0-Press-Release-FINAL-052609.pdf)

Serial Attached SCSI - 2 (SAS-2) (http://www.t10.org)

http://www.t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments/project/d1532v3r4a-ATA-ATAPI-7.pdf

http://www.t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2009/d2015r2-ATAATAPI_Command_Set_-_2_ACS-2.pdf

http://www.t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2009/d2015r2-ATAATAPI_Command_Set_-_2_ACS-2.pdf

http://www.t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2007/D1699r4c-ATA8-ACS.pdf

http://www.serialata.org/

http://www.serialata.org/

http://www.sata-io.org/documents/SATA-Revision-3.0-Press-Release-FINAL-052609.pdf

http://www.t10.org/



334080-001US 21

Appendix B

Storage System Events Detected by Monitor Service

(IAStorDataMgrSvc).

Event Type Event Level

String

Event Displayed

NAI1

(Notification Area Icon)

Event Log

E-Mail Notify2

Disk Triggered Events

Failed Error Disk on port {n}: Failed. Open the

application for details. Yes Yes Yes

S.M.A.R.T. Warning Disk on port {n}: At risk. Open the


Unlocked Info Disk on port {n}: Unlocked. Yes Yes Yes

Added Info Disk on port {n}: Detected. Yes Yes Yes

Removed Info Disk on port {n}: Removed. Yes Yes Yes

Volume Triggered Events

Failed Error Volume {0}: Failed. Open the


Degraded Warning Volume {0}: Degraded. Open the


Detected Info A new volume was found. Yes Yes Yes

RebuildComplete Info Volume {0}: Rebuilding complete. Yes Yes Yes

VerifyStop Info Volume {0}: Verification complete. Yes Yes Yes

VerifyAndRepairStop Info Volume {0}: Verification and repair

complete. Yes Yes Yes

MigrationComplete Info Volume {0}: Data migration complete. Yes Yes Yes

InitializeComplete Info Volume {0}: Initialization complete. Yes Yes Yes

Unlocked Info Volume {0}: Unlocked. Yes Yes Yes

NotPresent Info Volume {0}: No longer present on

system. Yes Yes Yes

RebuildStarted Info Volume {0}: Rebuilding in progress. Yes No No

VerifyStarted Info Volume {0}: Verification in progress. Yes No No

VerifyAndRepairStarted Info Volume {0}: Verification and repair in

progress. Yes No No



22 334080-001US

Event Type Event Level String

Event Displayed

NAI1

(Notification Area Icon)

Event Log

E-Mail Notify2

MigrationStarted Info Volume {0}: Data migration in

progress. Yes No No

InitializeStarted Info Volume {0}: Initialization in progress. Yes No No

General Events

Server start failed Error Server failed to start. Additional

information: No Yes Yes

Event manager started Info Started the event manager. No Yes Yes